India’s Covid-19 Fallout Collides With A Shaky Economy

India’s Covid-19 Fallout Collides With A Shaky Economy

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump before a ... [+] meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on February 25, 2020.





MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images





The bromance between Donald Trump and Narendra Modi features the kind of rivalry no world leader wants: the title of fastest-growing Covid-19 epidemic anywhere. 



Advantage, Indian Prime Minister Modi. With 4.2 million confirmed cases under his belt, U.S. President Trump's nation is far ahead in an absolute sense. But India's 20% jump in infections over the last week to 1.4 million puts Modi's nation on top in terms of velocity.



And that's the last thing Asia's third-biggest economy needs as 2020 unravels before our eyes.



As the year began, India was seen growing at least 5%. Now, it's seen contracting by roughly that amount-at best. Worse, perhaps, that could turn out to be overly optimistic considering the dire state of global demand and the pre-existing conditions that New Delhi brought into this pandemic.



The biggest is a dysfunctional economy that Modi was slow to address in the 68 months before India confirmed its first Covid-19 case. The most dangerous ailment being a banking system burdened